Fans urge Marvel to give Captain America a boyfriend
Disney and Marvel face increased pressure to include LGBT characters in their biggest films.
We have all seen the #GiveElsaAGirlfriend hashtag, which even won endorsement from the actress who plays Frozen’s queen, Idina Menzel, earlier this week.
However, fans are going to stop there, with a new trend urging the studio to give Captain America a boyfriend.
The Marvel superhero has long been loved by LGBT comic book community – with fans hoping he may fall for best friend Bucky Barnes or rival Tony Stark.
Student Jess Salerno started the hashtag on Twitter after deciding he’d like the dreams of so many LGBT fans to become a reality.
“I feel like it sucks that people in the LGBT community don’t get the representation that they deserve and it would be so amazing for something like Captain America or Marvel to be able to portray that,” he told Metro.
“Maybe just let people know that it’s okay to be who you are, you know?
“You don’t have to be scared, especially to be able to have children grow up in that way, I feel like it would do amazing things for the future.”
Salerno says the response to the idea has been amazing, with many users supporting the idea of Cap being portrayed as MCU’s first bisexual superhero.
The blockbuster film and TV universe – which spans from Iron Man and the Avengers to Guardians of the Galaxy – has portrayed hundreds of characters and dozens of superheroes – but is lacking in LGBT diversity.
Gay characters have been introduced on Marvel TV shows Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Jessica Jones – but neither of the shows have the mass-market reach of the core MCU films – which are pushed across the world, including in countries with anti-LGBT laws.
However, Captain America: Civil War sibling directing duo Joe and Anthony Russo remain hopeful that the Marvel universe will likely break the barrier at some point.
Joe Russo said: “I think the chances are strong.
“I mean, it’s incumbent upon us as storytellers who are making mass-appeal movies to make mass-appeal movies, and to diversify as much as possible.”
